Tuscaloosa Effectiveness Trial (Lochman)

The objective of this CDC-CYVC funded study is to test the effectiveness of an intervention program that teaches (300) fourth-grade children in the Tuscaloosa area various skills such as conflict resolution, anger
management, and social competence. Over time, the program would be followed by booster sessions in sixth grade and later follow up. This longitudinal preventive intervention study, begun in 1998, originated from research on an earlier Anger Coping Program which produced significant improvements in behavior

This five-year grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse will examine whether the Coping Power prevention program, which has been demonstrated to have preventive effects on youths’ substance use and delinquency in prior efficacy and effectiveness studies, can be usefully “taken to scale” and delivered in an effective manner by existing staff (e.g., school counselors, social workers, nurses) in a range of Birmingham area school sites. The study will have substantial policy implications for the implementation of prevention programs in real-world settings. The Coping Power program is based on a contextual social-cognitive developmental model, and is designed to be provided to preadolescent children who are at-risk for later substance use because of their high levels of aggressive behaviors.